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Thursday, April 14, 2016

During
the British rule when Meghalaya was part of undivided Assam, Khasi Mandarin
Oranges were reported to be growing in abundance in the hill tract under Jirang
C&RD Block of Ri-Bhoi district. However, lack of adoption of scientific procedure
for cultivation and management practices caused poor productivity and these trees
began to decrease vigorously thus leading to citrus decline and dieback. The
District Horticulture Office begun to explore ways and means how to regain back
the past glories and today Umlakro Farm has emerged as a model of sustainable
horticulture development combining modern hitech horticulture technology with horti-tourism.

The
genesis of this story took roots when the Department of Agriculture was gifted 7
hectares of land from the Syiem of Jirang and his Durbar in the year 2004, with
the expectation that the land could be used for the overall development and
upliftment of agriculture in the region under Jirang C&RD Block.

During
2009, this land was transferred to the Directorate of Horticulture to develop but
it was only in 2012 that the office of the District Horticulture officer,
Ri-Bhoi could start work on the project for setting up a horticulture farm.
Thus Umlakro farm was created to not only re-nurture Khasi Mandarins, but also
to experiment with other citrus varieties like Nagpur Orange, Assam Lemon,
Sweet Orange. The farm also aims to provide farmers of the district with high quality
seeded and budded plants. Furthermore, the farm will also facilitate students
of Horticulture to conduct in-depth study on the functional, productivity,
efficiency and a holistic understanding of oranges, mandarins and lemon.
Students will also be able to learn from the farm through hands on approach
which will enhance their personal development.

In
the past, the life of a farmer is dictated by the weather gods -when the rain god,
the sun god, the god of the earth are favourable on them, the farmer can begin
to rejoice and thank the heavens for their season’s harvest. But apparently all
the rituals practiced by our farmers and their sacrifices have become futile with
the changing time and technology has taken over many aspects of farming. With
the aim of bringing development closer to the people in the villages, creating basic
infrastructure to provide gainful employment opportunities for the people and
empower them so that they may have the liberty to work as employers rather than
employees, the Directorate of Horticulture released fund of Rs. 6.25 lakhs for
developing basic infrastructure construction of shade house, overhead water tank and land
development to develop Umlakro as a model horticulture farm.

A Birds Eye View of the Farm

Furthermore,
after conducting adequate studies on the land, soil and climate of the area,
the horticulture development officer in-charge of the farm opted to raise
mother plants in order to produce
quality planting materials of different citrus crops such
as the famed Khasi Mandarin,
Assam Lemon, Sweet Orange etc. The Office began to treat Umlakro Farm as a
future hub which would provide quality planting
materials to neighbouring villages and
their farmers. A model Floriculture Centre was also set up
during the year 2013-2014 as the area was found suitable for the cultivation of
flowers such as Dendrobium, Phalaenopsis and Blue Vanda.

Before
these intervention by the District Horticulture Office Nongpoh, Jirang was
known for widespread jhum cultivation
practices broom grass cultivation and timber
logging. The forests in the State are major carbon sinks and home to agro-biodiversity
which needs to be protected adequately.
Jhum cultivation leads to removal of tons of biomass, higher rate of run-off of
rainwater leading to drinking water shortage and even drought.

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Meghalaya State Agricultural
Marketing Portal (www.megamb.gov.in), an
online web based Agriculture Market Information System (AMIS), which was
designed, developed and hosted by NIC Meghalaya in collaboration with the Directorate of Horticulture, Meghalaya and Meghalaya State Agricultural Marketing
Board was awarded the RUNNERS UP place in the eNorth East Award 2016, under the category e-Governance and
Citizen Services Delivery, which witnessed 11 nominees presenting their
projects before a 3 member panel of eminent experts as Jury Members. The
Experts were from IT Department, Government of Meghalaya, IIM Shillong and IT
department Govt of Sikkim.

The Meghalaya State Agriculture Marketing Portal was first launched in the year 2005 and then again revamped in 2014 with Microsoft .NET framework and MS Sql Server 2008 as the back end RDBMS database. The portal is hosted in NIC National Data Centre, New Delhi which is a 3 tier datacentre. The site has received more than 31000 web hits and is being used regularly by the farmers and the traders from the State as well as other parts of the country.

All the finalist team had to give a five
minutes presentation in front of the jury members who then awarded points under
several parameters like Innovation Challenge, Implementation Plan, Timelines, People
Benefitted, Scope of Replication and Revenue Model. The 5 minutes presentation was followed up by
another 2 minutes of questioning by the jury members. After the score were
compiled, the Winner and Runner’s up were selected from each category.

Our team was represented by
C.S.Shabong, Assistant Director of Agriculture, Directorate of Agriculture, Meghalaya and Aiborlang Wanswett, Principal
System Analyst, NIC Meghalaya who gave a power point presentation in front of
the jury members and also replied to all the queries and questioning by each jury
member.

Given below is the list of Challengers under the category:
E-GOVERNANCE & CITIZEN SERVICES DELIVERY which comprised of 11
nominations having the largest number of nominees under the category.

The 6th Edition of the
eNorth East Award 2016 is organised by NEDF, Guwahati and Impulse NGO Network, Shillong in collaboration with MITS, Meghalaya and was held on 26th February
2016 at the NEC Auditorium, Nongrim Hills, Shillong. The event witnessed a participation of 71
Finalists under various categories where one Winner and one Runners-up was declared from each category, which was adjudged
by eminent jury members comprising experts from the IT field, media,
educational institutions and industry.

The eNorth East Award platform is
an effort to mainstream the North East region by bringing the progressive
digital initiatives into national and international focus, recognize good IT
practices from the region and felicitate these practitioners and projects for
their innovations.

(The writer is Assistant Director of Agriculture(Agro)in the Department of Agriculture Meghalaya and can be reached at csshabong@gmail.com)

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Mawpran a sleepy village near the Indo-Bangadesh
border has been transformed as the strawberry village of East Khasi Hills, next
to Sohliya village in Ri-Bhoi district which has become a tourist destination.
With the formation of the Mawpran Strawberry Association in the year 2008-09
and through the intervention by the State Horticulture Mission under the
National Mission for Horticulture Development for North East India and the
Himalayas (Now a component under the MIDH), farmers have been nudged towards
taking up commercial scale horticulture to improve their livelihoods. As part
of the intervention, the farmers were also encouraged to take up apiculture and
bee rearing to improve the production of strawberry. Bees are known to improve
the amount of fruit harvested by about 10% in field trials conducted in UK.
Pollination by bees is also found to improve the shape and size of the
strawberry fruits thus translating to better marketability.

Food security is also intrinsically linked and
supported by pollinators, of which the humble bee is one of the most
important.Many fruits, vegetables,
plantation crops, nuts and seeds depend on animal pollination of which the honey
bee and the bumble bee are well known for their roles. Many wild species of
bees are also captured and reared by farmers and bee keepers in Meghalaya
mainly for honey extraction. But the indirect beneficiaries are the vast
stretches of horticulture and fruit plantation especially in the villages of
Nongtrai, Tynger, etc. situated in the Indo-Bangladesh hill tract in which a
single bee keeper is able to produce as much as 20 kg to 125 kg of honey per
year. (D.Marngar and R.D Lyngdoh, 2014)

Bees are diligent pollinators of fruits and seed
crops. All plant reproduction requires the transfer of pollen from the anthers,
or male part of the flower to the stigma, or female part of the flower either
on the same plant or on separate plant. During a single day, one bee may visit
several thousand flowers, of one plant species, collecting nectar and pollen
and at the same time continuously transferring pollen grains from one flower to
the next. Many variety of fruit trees need cross pollination and specially hybrid
crops for commercial production creates a special need for cross pollination by
insects/bees. Some crops are self pollinated but nonetheless give better yields
through pollination by insects or bees. Adequate pollination by insects/bees
also ensures that early flowers set seeds, resulting in uniform and early
harvest .

In India, the National Bee Board is the nodal agency
for registration of bee keepers and farmers for traceability, formulating
standards for honey and bee-hive products, capacity building, training and
advisories. It also provides free registration of bee-keepers and well as
provides assistance and support through various agencies like Khadi Village and
Industries Board (KVIB), Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), State
Agricultural Universities (SAU), State Horticulture Mission (SHM) etc.

Bees sustain
horticulture by allowing crops and wild plants to reproduce. A world without
these pollinators would lead to the breakdown of the vital function of
reproduction or fruit plants and crops, thus leading to extinction of many plant
species. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has recognized pollination as a
key driver in the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem function. The system
of hiring and renting honeybee colonies for apple pollination is being
practiced in Himachal Pradesh to improve production.

As bees fly from one flower to the next, not only do
they collect nectars from flowers but alsothrough their pollinary activities ensures future sustainability of
generation to come for food and crops. Pollination is the one significant
economic value derived from bees. Plants and bees are interdependent and need
each other for survival and procreation.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India has
started a restructured centrally sponsored scheme, Mission for Integrated Development
of Horticulture(MIDH) during the 12th Plan for the holistic
development of horticulture sector covering fruits, vegetables, spices,
flowers, aromatic plants etc. One of the mission support component of MIDH is
“Pollination Support through Bee Keeping” as one of the mission intervention.
Honey bee will be used in the mission as an important input to maximise
agriculture/horticulture production. The responsibility for co-ordinating the
bee keeping development program in the State will be vested with the State
Designated Agency, in this case which is Meghalaya SFAC. National Bee
Board(NBB) will be responsible for providing technical support, implementation
of promotional programs relating to bee-keeping and co-ordinating bee-keeping
activity in the State. Assistance will also be available to the state on
development of nucleus stock of bees, bee breeding, distribution of bee colony
hives and bee keeping equipments.

Table
1.Cost Norm and Pattern of Assistance
under MIDH during XII Plan

In a case study No. 10 by Uma Partap, ICIMOD, Nepal
titled “Cash Crop Farming in the
Himalayas: The importance of pollinator management and managed pollination”,
it reported on the impact of honey bee pollination on fruits and vegetables.

Studies have shown that honeybee pollination
enhanced seed production and quality of seed in various vegetable crops such as
cabbage, cauliflower, radish, broad leaf mustard and lettuce (Partap and Verma,
1992; 1994; Verma and Partap, 1993; 1994). These results confirm the usefulness
of bee pollination and its role in increasing crop productivity and improving
the quality of fruits and seeds.

Conclusion:

Besides producing honey, bees can increase crop
production to the tune of 10-25%. Crops in the State like peach, plum
strawberry, limes, oranges and vegetables like cucumber, cauliflower, pumkin,
pepper benefit from this insect. Under MIDH and Apiculture Mission under the
IBDLP, there is great scope to increase adoption of apiculture by farmers both
as a livelihood option as well as improving the production of various
horticultural crops in the State. The
bee has been rightly called the farmer’s friend and with the State moving
towards organic practice, organic honey produced from Meghalaya may be the next
sought after product in the near future.

(The Writer is
working as Senior Agriculture Development Officer (Information), Department of
Agriculture, Meghalaya and can be reached at csshabong@gmail.com)

Monday, January 19, 2015

Organic fruits, vegetables, and grains have several measureable
nutritional benefits over conventional crops, according to a study published in
the British Journal of Nutrition(BJN). Analyzing 343 peer-reviewed publications, researchers from the
United Kingdom with the help of American Charles Benbrook of Washington State
University found that organics contain 18 to 69 percent higher concentrations
of antioxidants.

An Organic Tea Garden in Ri-Bhoi District (Photo: C.S.Shabong)

Since
time immemorial, farming in Meghalaya is Organic by tradition and has been practiced by our farmers and the
farming community for ages. Our forefather practice a form of shifting cultivation or slash and burn
agriculture which is commonly called Jhum
cultivation or Rep Shyrti
(in Khasi) and A.ba oa (in Garo). This is one of the most ancient
systems of farming believed to have originated in the Neolithic period around
7000 B C. This practice has an in-built mechanism of sustenance, conservation
and renewable system of resource
management.

The
need to improve and enhance the natural
resource base in a sustainable manner through optimum management, renewing soil nutrients and judicious water
management; has evolved into the concept of Modern Organic farming to scale down the use of chemical
pesticides, chemical fertilisers and the damaging practices that conventional
agriculture has evolved. Such practices would presumably satisfy most concerns
about environmental pollutions, human
health as well as maintenance of ecological
balance and agricultural sustainability.

Traditionally,
the farming communities in Meghalaya were self-sufficient and the villages had
their own community granaries and
seed banks. In conformity with
the observance of International Year of
Family Farming 2014, which recognizes the importance of family farming
in reducing poverty and
improving global food security followed
by the declaration by the United
Nations of the year 2015 as the International Year of Soils, which
states that soils are the foundation of family farming, the Government of
Meghalaya recognizes the importance of family farming by smallholder and family
farmers for sustainable development. The State Government aims to promote new development policies that will help
the smallholder and family farmers eradicate hunger, reduce rural poverty and
continue to play a major role as stewards who manage and protect natural
resources; and as drivers of sustainable development in global food security
through small-scale, sustainable agricultural production.

Since
farming in Meghalaya is basically organic by practice and therefore there is
ample scope for expanding and exploiting the market potential of this sector in the right direction. The Meghalaya
Mission Organic will emphasize on the need to build the entrepreneurial capacity of the farmers of the State towards
achieving business acumen in the
process of organic production and
marketing in a strategic manner. Organic
Certification programme associated with this Mission will help to link
our Organic Products with Organic
Markets at National and International level and standards. This Mission also
aims to generate multiple livelihood
opportunities and employment
avenues through various services and interventions in the State and rural communities in particular.

The Department of Agriculture, Meghalaya has successfully initiated pilots during 2010 which began with Tea and thereafter Cauliflower in Ri-Bhoi and East Khasi Hills district. "MEG" Tea is presently marketed as Organic Certified Tea and is available in three varieties - Green, Oolong and Black Tea. All the organic tea varieties are USDA and NPOP certified, which were certified by M/S Control Union India. In Garo Hills, organic certification of Pineapple and Cashewnut are ongoing and are presently in C1 and C2 stage.

Mission
Organic was launched by the Hon’ble Chief Minister incharge Agriculture, Dr.
Mukul Sangma on 10th January 2015 in Ampati, under South West Garo
Hills District. The mission is also being converged with the “Clean and Green
Meghalaya campaign” in order to create awareness about the need for safer food
and thereby contributing to a cleaner environment. The new policy of the State
Government also aims to build brand Organic Meghalaya, which will produce
organic certified food and products, link organic food to eco-tourism, cleaner
and greener environment through lower carbon regime and build consumer awareness
and demand for safe and healthy food.

________________________________________________________________

TheWriter works as Agriculture Development
Officer(Information), Directorate of Agriculture and can be reached at
csshabong@gmail.com.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Mr.
S. Nongbri and his son-in-law, a class 9 dropout of Umroi village were
harvesting ginger from their field on a December afternoon. Soon after, they
were joined by the wife of Nongbri who started to pick the healthy rhizomes and
kept them separately from the rest. On inquiring about this process, she
informed me that the healthy rhizomes were being sorted out for seed purpose,
while the rest, including the shrunken and diseased ones will be sold in the
market. Then she instructed her son-in-law to dig 2 holes on the ground and he quickly
obliged. I was curious and cannot help but ask what the holes are being dug
for? She replied, “the holes are being dug to store the healthy ginger for seed
purpose”. Then I asked her – is’nt there a better way to store the ginger meant
for seed purpose as storing on the ground may lead to wastage and loss? Oh!
this is the method we have learnt from our forefather, she quipped and also
looked at me curiously. I then went on to explain the method of ginger storage
which my colleague Iai Majaw, the Ginger man has explained to me supplemented
with a writeup and a diagram of his storage structure. Inspite of not having
any previous field experience with ginger, I now have enough knowledge about
ginger storage and practices to confidently explain to these farmers, thanks to
Iai Majaw. They looked to me and said “Babu I wish that the officers from the
department will come us in the field and explain like you did” Please take a
seat here and explain to us as we are illiterate and uninformed poor farmers.
Then I sat down with them on the field and explained about what i represent,
the work I do in the Agriculture Information Wing and how I passionately apply
new technologies to bridge information and communication gaps that exist in the
agricultural extension system.

In
my two hours spend in their field, I could learn that many of my so called high
technology and 21st century inventions are not able to reach them.
They told me that they are too engrossed and focussed on their livelihood that
they don’t read newspaper, don’t watch TV and don’t own any mobile phone
either. Forget about access to internet and facebook! Then I asked what about
access to State Government assistance program, awareness and training or field
school- They replied in the negative and blamed the Headman for not informing
them about any such programs. Don’t you ever visit the Department District or
Circle office? Where do we have the time and luxury to visit and what guarantee
that our visit would be fruitful? they answered back.

Today
we live in the so called 21st century in the midst of the
Information and communication (ICT) revolution which has changed the way people
interact, communicate and connect. Even the agriculture space has also not been
left untouched by this revolution. In fact the Ministry of Agricuture is
rolling out the 2nd Phase of the its ambitious National e-Governance
Plan for Agriculture(NeGP-A), which
aims to put agriculture in a new growth trajectory. Does my encounter above
give me reason for optimism or disappointment since I will be in the forefront
of this program? Is my glass half full or half empty?The
objectives of NeGP-A is to provide relevant
information and services to the farming community through the use of ICT.
This program is an ambitious country wide initiative which is being rolled out
to 22 States and UT in a mission mode. The first phase of the pilot was carried
out in 7 States and lessons learnt and best practices have been captured during
the first phase.

In
my 22 years of serving the department, I am of the firm opinion that the time
has now come to address change in a fundamental way, i.e. to take people from a
traditional stage, which they are comfortable with to the desired stage,
through sustained communication and motivational campaign in order to change
the way they think, behave and act. There is an art to communication which
involves psychology, philosophy and sociology. Just doling out freebees and routine
aids instead make the farmers more dependent on the system.

The
question I ask myself “Can ICT bring in the desired change and improve
the livelihood of the farming community in the present state of affairs? I take
courage from the book by John Kotter, “Our Iceberg is Melting - Changing and
Succeeding Under Any Conditions.” We need to reduce complacency and increase
urgency! We need to create a short term win, in the least and ensure that the
change would not be overcome by stubborn and hard to die “traditions.”

(The writer works in
the Directorate of Agriculture, Meghalaya as Agriculture Development Officer
(Information and IT) and can be reached at csshabong@gmail.com)

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Certificate of Recognition under the category e-Livelihood and Enterprise

﻿

Intelligent Advisory System for Farmers (IASF) www.iasf.in, a project of CDAC Mumbai in collaboration with Department of Agriculture Meghalaya, Manipur and Central Agricultural University, Imphal wins in 4th eNorth East Challenge Award 2013 under the category "Livelihood and Enterprise" at the Award Summit held on 13th December 2013 at Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh.

The e-North East Award platform is created to scout, review, select, felicitate, award and nurture best practices in information communication technology for development and governance in North East India. The Award concept seeks to bring into focus practices in as many as 12 categories that have impacted development and governance processes for good. The Award platform has so far a repository of more than 200 best practices from the region.

The eNorth East Award Summit since 2010 (the first award summit launched in 2010) has established itself as a unique platform and a movement to contribute to the emerging ICT environment in the region.

The e-North East Award seeks to create an ecosystem of digital innovations and best practices in North East India by recognizing and celebrating practices that has contributed to desirable development and governance outcomes. The Award is given out in 12 key categories each year. For details you can visit http://enortheast.in. The Award platform has been launched in 2010.About e-North East Award Summit The e-North East Award summit is an annual multi-stakeholder dialogue and consultative platform in the field of Information Communication Technology, Internet for Development and Governance in North East India. The thrust is on exchange of ideas, knowledge, and best practices, demonstrate examples and share experiences from mainstream India and from the region for better learning and replication in the region. It is being designed as a policy forum towards policy and programme declarations for further follow and action steps. It is a platform for Government-Industry-Civil Society and Academia stakeholders to enter into dialogue in deliberating on governance and development challenges in the region and exploring sustainable solutions through ICTs and information mediums.About North East Digital Festival The focus of the annual digital festival is on best ICT and digital practices for development including innovations and solutions that has been implemented in the region or has potentials to implement with desired results. The festival is an exhibition of such solutions that can facilitate overcome existing challenges in service delivery, e-infrastructure, content and services and networking with security. Exhibitors from the public, private, civil society and academic sector demonstrate their innovative deployment of solutions and practices.Objectives of the 4the-North East Award Summit 2013The key objectives of e-North East Award Summit includes:

Recognising best practices in ICT for development & governance in North East India;

Dialogue & networking on the scope, opportunities and challenges in ICT, Internet technology, Information broadcasting in Development and governance in the region;

Showcasing ICT / IT solutions, best practices and examples from the government, industry, civil society and academia – from national, regional and state levels;

Exploring areas of convergence, partnerships and agreements among stakeholders.

4theNorth East Award Summit 2013Programme Flow: The One Day 4th-eNorth East Award Summit 2013is designed as follows:

4the-North East Award Summit 2013 Congress (Inaugural Session)

Working Session I (2 Parallel Track sessions)

Working Session II (2 Parallel Track Sessions)

Working Session III ( 2 Parallel Track Sessions)

4the-North East Award 2013 Gala Evening

One full day North East Digital Festival (Exhibition & Showcasing of ICT solutions)

Consolidation of factors limiting ICTs and technology initiatives in NE

Consolidation of best possible solutions in ICT and technology for NE

Consolidate role and scope of stakeholders in ICTand technology in NE

Consolidate the need and role of community participation and involvement in ICT and technology for development initiatives

Consolidate scope in policy areas and suggest workable framework

Developing a partnership framework among stakeholders.

StakeholdersThe 4the-North East Award Summit 2013 saw attendance of stakeholders and representatives from Ministry of DONER (India), Ministry of IT, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, State Departments, academia, corporate stakeholder, civil society and others. The Government of Arunachal Pradeshwill have its wholesome presence and participation through its key functionaries and key departments.OrganisersThe 4the-North East Award Summit 2013 is organized by North East Development Foundation and Department of IT, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh, & North East Information Communication Technology Association (NEICTA).Co-organising Partners: Internet Society, Internet & Mobile Association of India, PIR, NIXI, Digital Empowerment Foundation, READ India, IGNOU, Sikkim Manipal University,The Event was inaugurated by the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh on 13th Dec 2013 at the Banquet Hall, Niti Vihar, Itanagar in the presence of Ministers, Chief Secretary of Arunachal Pradesh, top dignitaries and officials from DIT, Arunachal Pradesh. There were 2 parallel sessions during the day. The Award Ceremony was held on the same day in the evening where the winners in various categories were felicitated. This was followed by a gala dinner hosted by the CM including entertainment by different cultural troupe, singers and artists.The event was hosted by the Department of IT, Arunachal Pradesh in collaboration with NEDF, Guwahati.

(Written by C.S.Shabong, Agriculture Development Officer(Info & IT) and State Co-ordinator, IASF Meghalaya)

Intelligent Advisory System for Farmers(IASF) is an advisory system for answering queries related to farming activities carried out in Northeastern states of India. The system can be extended with inclusion of any other crops from any State of India. The project covers five major farming activities (Insect Management, Disease Management, Weed Management, Rice Variety Selection and Fertilizer Management) which required expert’s advice relating to diagnostic and remedial measures.

IASF aims to improve and strengthen existing agriculture extension services by integrating Information Technology with mobile services. Sharing of knowledge among experts, farmers, students and research scholars are very important to the growth of the agriculture sector. The farmers’ queries are stored in a database along with its relevant solution (called CASE) in database. A farmer can ask a question related to the above mentioned farming activities supported by IASF and the system automatically produces a highly probable solution from a large database containing collection of queries and expert opinion given by a team of agriculture experts and subject matter specialist. IASF is also a self learning system that acquires new problems and corresponding solutions. The system can help farmer in critical times where access to an agricultural expert is not forthcoming or due to unavailability of agriculture extension worker in the field. The system is specially useful in States and rural areas where the ratio of extension worker to farmer is very wide.

This system networks registered agricultural experts from various agricultural domain like Plant Protection, Horticulture, Agriculture Extension, Marketing, Agronomy, Soil Science, Seed Technology etc. from the Department of Agriculture, Government of Manipur; Department of Agriculture, Government of Meghalaya; Central Agriculture University (CAU), Imphal; Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVKs) of Meghalayain playing an active role as contributor and knowledge engineers for building the knowledge component of the advisory systems.

The main objectives of IASF are:

Provide improved services to the farming community through the use of ICT.

Advice and help farmers to solve problems related to their farming activities. Otherwise, they need to contact agricultural experts and private extension workers.

Providing vital and generic information to farmers so that they get periodic alerts on important/useful tips, ideas, knowhow etc.

Developing an advisory system which can be extended with any other types of crops in any State of India.

Improving agricultural extension service by using mobile services so that farmers can send queries about their farming problem from their mobile device.

To develop an educational materials to be used by students for their practical experience with real case scenario.

Beneficiary of the Project:

FARMER:Farmers from North East Region of India mainly farmers from Manipur and Meghalaya: Farmers can get direct or indirect advice from agricultural experts for his/her query related to their farming activities covered by IASF. Farmers can also communicate their problems with agricultural experts by sending an SMS text message in a predefined format.

AGRICULTURAL EXPERT: Experts can advise to farmers’ query from anywhere using Internet or mobile SMS. Experts can also share knowledge among themselves by suggesting to other expert's advice given to farmers.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE(DOA): DOA can broadcast periodic alerts and useful information to registered users via mobile SMS and email. Department of Agriculture can use IASF as a tool to train new officers and extension functionaries.

STUDENT: One of major objective of IASF is developing educational materials to be used by students of agriculture for their practical experience with real scenario.

RESEARCH SCHOLAR: research scholars will be able to study diversity in farmers’ problem across north east region of India and how agricultural experts are suggesting remedial measures on various field problems.

Presently, IASF is benefiting 1886 registered farmers in 6 districts of Meghalaya and 9 districts of Manipur who uses the platform for redressal of their farm problems. 50 Subject Matter Specialist are also registered in the portal to respond to farmer's queries in real time. An agriculture expert can reply to any query from his/her registered mobile phone via SMS by sending his reply to 51969. Farmer/Student can also register themselves to the IASF portal via SMS by sending their name, address in a specified fomat to 51969. The project can be easily scaled and rolled out with localised content and languages. This is the first of its kind project in North East India, where ICT has come to the rescue of resource poor farmers residing in remote and inaccessible part of the country. The integration of web technology and mobile service delivery gateway has been a boon to this project, where the reach and scale of the project can have a multiplier effect on the agriculture scenario of geographically remote and inaccessible rural areas of India.
To know more about this project, please visit this link http://iasf.in

(The writer is currently working in the Department of Agriculture Meghalaya as Agriculture Development Officer (Info& IT) and also functions as the State Co-ordinator of IASF Project, Meghalaya)

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